@gaminginpublic: Barcade's neat for classic crowd-pleasers, but that's about it. Also, their bartenders have usually been kinda dickish when I've been there. Maybe that's changed in the last year or so.

So glad I got to go there before it closed and morphed into a Chuck E Cheese clone.

@Phished0ne said:

@Alex said:

@mnzy: I didn't mention it because I've never been there and frankly don't know much about it (IE what games they have, how the set-up is, etc.) Was thinking about checking it out in the near future.

From watching Fighting Game streams, Next Level seems like a nice little place.

It's currently much less inviting as an arcade than Chinatown Fair, it really feels more like a fighting game club in an unfinished (and very out of the way) location. Which is certainly cool, in it's own way. But Chinatown Fair had a special vibe to it, one that you just can't replicate without actual cabinets lining the walls, and I don't think the feel or focus at Next Level really matches that.

I wouldn't have minded seeing those chickens. Now that shall never be. It is a true pity that real arcades are exceptionally rare these days.

@jeffrud said:

What's the interest in getting a few mature people from this site together to lease space and start an actual arcade? This is something that interests me.

This sounds REALLY interesting.

@ZombiePie said:

There's honestly nothing for Northwest California. In the North Bay your effectively stuck with using Scandia, which blows major ass. I know that there's a Starbase in San Rafael...but that's a major drive.

Southtown Arcade is pretty much the premiere arcade in Norcal. I'd say STA, Super Arcade, Next Level, and Arcade UFO are the big arcades in the US.

Best article on this site since the move. Great stuff, Alex.

Also, I noticed Chris Hu in that first picture, he's a real good Cody, Ryu and Oni player. Cool stuff. It looked like it was a great place to hang out.

Great article Alex. If anything this is the after death incarnation of arcades where they become something different like a chuck e. cheese before they finally disappear. we'll see just how long this thing lasts but i dont think it will last for long.

Also next level in NYC is godlike. They just got 2 new arcade cabinets for street fighter 2 & they're getting the internal boards for all the SNK and Sega games too to give a wide selection of games to play that will be switched out every now & then.

Edit: That no good fighting games thing out said by the new owner is complete BS. Yes Street Fighter X Tekken isnt that good but the scope & depth of different fighting games out there hasnt been this good since the mid 90's. That's very troublesome to hear & shows the new management is out of touch with the scene its trying to get to come back.

There's a pretty decent arcade here in Zürich. There's House of The Dead, 4 outrun machines, Ms. Pac Man, competitive tetris and best of all, a sweet-as-fuck Goldeneye pinball machine. No fighting games though.

Funny I actually saw that this place on Saturday. I went to Free Comic Book Day and me and my buddy walked through Chinatown and I said lets see what they are doing with the space. We were surprised to see it was open with games. Sadly nothing appealed to me. I'm glad to see they are back but I liked nothing they had. If they do add a few machines I'd be more inclined to come by. They had prizes you could get by winning tickets. The back usually had 2 or 3 pinball machines. This time around there was an AC/DC pinball machine. Other stuff are things you'd find in a movie theater like a racing game, a Dance Dance machine, Terminator shooter etc...

I remember playing some Street Fighter II and III and the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure arcade was really fun too. I miss the old place but the potential is there if they are willing to add a few machines. I didn't stay in there long but hopefully they'll have something that will make me want to stay a bit. There is a tiny clothing shop on Clinton St on the lower east side and they have a few machines (about 6 or so), in the front area. Worth a walk in to play. They had Marvel vs Capcom, Star Wars Trilogy, Ms Pac Man/Galaga and a few others.

Great article Alex. How come you don't do these types of articles more? It seems like you're only doing the news-y kind of stuff, but this was a great read. Keep doing stuff like this!

Cool story.

@wumbo3000: You're in luck, because I'm thinking about doing more of them! I just need to find more subjects that grab me, I guess.

Depressing.

@RurouniGeo said:

Edit: That no good fighting games thing out said by the new owner is complete BS. Yes Street Fighter X Tekken isnt that good but the scope & depth of different fighting games out there hasnt been this good since the mid 90's. That's very troublesome to hear & shows the new management is out of touch with the scene its trying to get to come back.

Well the idea is that there arent a lot of new fighters that come out in the arcade. Capcom doesn't really release any new cabs. Since the majority of the FGC revolves around Capcom fighters, if they dont make cabs, there arent many games the non-hardcore fighting fans would be into. Street Fighter 4 was the last major release from them that came out with its own cab set up. Im pretty sure KOF13 came out as an arcade cab, but i dont know that many places in the US have it. Seems that the SF4 cab was throwing a bone to the few people left that do go to arcades. Since it is still kinda popular in Japan to go play games(especially fighting games, with their crazy card systems) in arcades. That being said Namco has been taking around Tekken Tag Tourny 2 cabs for different events. They were at super arcade a while ago, and there were recently two machines at Shadowloo Showdown in Australia for their TTT2(TTTT?) Tournament, wow..that is a mouthful. But as i stated, the interest for the 'general public' isnt really there that much for non-capcom games. Thats a shame considering Namco, and SNK make some great fighters.

A similar thing happened at the arcade near my house. Once they took our Ms. Pac-Man I knew it was over.

@ManaCrevice: Ground Kontrol is a treat! They are supposed to be doing a massive freeplay this year at the Portland Retro Game Expo. http://retrogamingexpo.com/ Which is going to be held at the Oregon Convention Center! Looks like the scene keeps getting bigger here.

I fondly remember going to CTF back when I was in high school. Those were the peek days of the fighting game arcade craze. Me and my friend (who's grand parents owned a tailoring shop just a few blocks away on Elizabeth Street) would drop off our back packs and head over there for a few hours or every week. Its sad to see it turn into this.

Alright. I beg to differ about no good fighting games out, while I play MK9 and SSF4 in my comfortable living room, there's a reason arcades are dead.

Good article!

This remodeling makes a lot of sense to me. He basically turned the arcade from "mom's basement" to a more "family-friendly" place. It's a business standpoint, and I completely understand it.

And, I'll tell you one thing, it sure looks a lot cleaner and more inviting than the old way it used to be.

However, Arcades are a risky business nowadays, and a small vocal minority or a regular clientele won't save a business.

You witness that everywhere. Whether it be Mom n' Pop game stores, Pizza places, snack stands, etc.

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Minor point of fact: I'm pretty sure I remember playing Guitar Hero Arcade for the first time in Chinatown Fair five or six years ago (I want to say it was pre-SFIV). That said, this is a really insightful, well-written article. I'd like to see a sequel, too, that maybe explores the arcade-going culture, and the ways in which said gaming culture, perhaps, clashes with the necessities of running an effective business.

Such a bummer. I remember rolling into Chinatown Fair with some friends on a trip to NYC in 09 and taking over the SF4, Blazblue, and KOF98 cabinets. Sad to see it go.

There used to be a place in my hometown of Petaluma (also where Jeff's from) called Dodge City. It was an arcade that charged hourly and had all the games set to freeplay. Sadly, even as a little kid, the moment they installed games that charged per play like normal, I knew the place couldn't be doing that well. And sure enough, it folded two years later.

I'm wondering if more arcades had shifted to that business model if it could've been more profitable...

I wish arcades came back.

@scawt said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Wow..a place that has custom UMVC3 Ps3 cabs? thats dedication.

I remember when there used to be a crappy little arcade here in backwater Paris, Texas. Yeah, there were a ton of crappy redemption machines and a stall for exchanging for them for plastic spider rings, but playing and watching other people play (and eventually beat, in a memorable marathon session) Gauntlet Legends was a formative experience of my childhood.

Luckily there's still a pretty great arcade down in Austin, near the UT campus: http://arcadeufo.com/arcade.php

It's fairly expensive, especially if you're playing a lot of Wangan Midnight and Pop'n Music, and it's a really compact hole-in-the-wall joint, but they've got a great selection of games, including two PS3 fighting game cabs, four linked SSFIV cabs, Pac Man Battle Royale, BlazBlue, Arcana Heart, DJ Max Technika, and DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu. Can't wait until college so I can bum around there more often.

They have tourneys and stuff there every so often, and they even brought in dudes like Justin Wong for one or two. I don't really care much about fighting games, but I love going down there and playing rhythm games or continuing to work on 1CC'ing DoDonPachi.

Great article Alex! Sad to see that era of gaming go though.

@Phished0ne said:

@scawt said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Wow..a place that has custom UMVC3 Ps3 cabs? thats dedication.

They also have a couple of sick ass Mortal Kombat machines. http://www.trmk.org/news/18683/trmks_mortal_kombat_2011_launch_day_coverage.html

I can't seem to find a good picture of the other one.

As a native New Yorker I saw that Tic Tac Toe Chicken many a time. Sadly I even lost to him. My friends didn't let me live that one down for awhile.

@scawt said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Wow, thanks for this. Lived in Chicago my whole life, watched every arcade I used to go to die, but never knew about this spot.

A WILD CHRIS G HAS APPEARED, also, Chris Hu.

I remember the first time I went in there. It was the months leading up to the release of SFIV. As soon as I walked in I see a shirtless overweight fellow who was practically dripping sweat, dried up puke near the entrance, and no elbow space whatsoever. It really was a shithole. A wonderful shithole. I'll miss it.

Looks like Chris Hu got 1 up Sanford there.

I hope somebdy sent this story to SRK, EH, and maybe IPW

I remember when arcades here used to have fighting games. ..And then I got interested in the genre, and they all fucking disappeared. There's like, one SFIV machine in all of Brisbane now.

Makes me sad.

@Chumm said:

@scawt said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Wow, thanks for this. Lived in Chicago my whole life, watched every arcade I used to go to die, but never knew about this spot.

Absolutely take a look. You can take a Metra train right out there. It's like a 15 minute train ride, then a 10 minute walk.

The reason for arcades is to play trash talking humans in person. I like Xbox live but that will not give u the pressure of opponents and the clowns watching heckling. This is why arcades were/are great. Also a flood of fighting games is what destroyed the fighting game scene in the past. Just a ton of shitty clones that lost money and the faith of the players. Nice article but I would to have heard the story from a regular or real fighting game player.

"The bottom line is, there's just no really great fighting games out, so that's why we don't have any."

Dude what? Last time I checked we were in the middle of a huge fighting-game revival. People may not like Aris much, but these guys could definitely take a leaf out of Super Arcade's book.

@JayHitcher said:

Luckily there's still a pretty great arcade down in Austin, near the UT campus: http://arcadeufo.com/arcade.php

It's fairly expensive, especially if you're playing a lot of Wangan Midnight and Pop'n Music, and it's a really compact hole-in-the-wall joint, but they've got a great selection of games, including two PS3 fighting game cabs, four linked SSFIV cabs, Pac Man Battle Royale, BlazBlue, Arcana Heart, DJ Max Technika, and DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu. Can't wait until college so I can bum around there more often.

They have tourneys and stuff there every so often, and they even brought in dudes like Justin Wong for one or two. I don't really care much about fighting games, but I love going down there and playing rhythm games or continuing to work on 1CC'ing DoDonPachi.

Yeah, Arcade UFO is the home base of a lot of the Austin area's top players. They had a big Street Fighter X Tekken tourny there around the time of Southby. I believe they have a weekly Ranbat session. I feel like such a nerd for knowing all this stuff considering i dont even compete. hahah

I got to go to Chinatown during a trip to New York. Played a few games, won a couple of matches and meet a few of the regulars there. Good people.

@Chumm said:

@scawt said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned in the comments yet, but if you're in the midwest (specifically Illinois) you owe it to yourself to make it out to the Galloping Ghost.

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

It's an awesome arcade with 300+ machines. It's got stuff from the late 70s/early 80s, through the 90s, and even a host of MK, SSF4 and UMVC3 machines. They hold tournaments and regular contests, and are putting new stuff up all the time. It costs $15 for a day pass and all machines are set to free play. It's a fantastic place that everyone that's able to needs to check out.

Wow, thanks for this. Lived in Chicago my whole life, watched every arcade I used to go to die, but never knew about this spot.

Absolutely take a look. You can take a Metra train right out there. It's like a 15 minute train ride, then a 10 minute walk.

@iAmJohn: Sunset Park my man. Next Level Arcade is where they moved to. How Alex didn't mention that is beyond me.

Forget it, Alex, it's Chinatown.

the arcades always had the best graphics when it came to fighting and racing games, wish they were back..

Just stick MvC2 and SF3 in there and I'm sure it will make money.

Also, is Timezone doing well in Australia? That could count as a prominent arcade outside of Asia.

@daedaluss said:

Forget it, Alex, it's Chinatown.

You, sir, are amazing.

@Alex said:

@gaminginpublic: Barcade's neat for classic crowd-pleasers, but that's about it. Also, their bartenders have usually been kinda dickish when I've been there. Maybe that's changed in the last year or so.

Gah, that's a let down. I was planning a trip sometime within a few months. You know, I realized the arcade market was pretty bad these days, but I was hoping it wasn't that bad. There goes my dream of opening a bar/arcade one day. =/

@Alex said:

@gaminginpublic: Barcade's neat for classic crowd-pleasers, but that's about it. Also, their bartenders have usually been kinda dickish when I've been there. Maybe that's changed in the last year or so.

I really enjoyed this article, by the way Alex. Good job.

@Alex what is your opinion of Barcade?